Divination
by Linstock
Summary: At 12 midnight on All Hallows Eve maybe we can see the future.


Title: Divination

Author: Linstock

Pairing: Spock/Uhura

Rating: G

Type: Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own the Star trek the characters or profit in from this writing.

Au: This was written for the Halloween challenge at Spock-Uhura. The game mentioned in the story is authentic. Many thanks to SpockLovesCats and Atana71 for their beat work which adds to the depths and flow of the story and saves me a lot of embarasment!

Summary: At 12 midnight on All Hallow's Eve maybe we can see the future. 

It was Halloween and all the extended Uhura family had assembled at Aunt Mia's for the day. It was rare for all the aunts and uncles to be able to schedule their holidays at the same time so there was a general air of excitement. The cousins, who did not see each other more than once or twice a year, and never all at once, were boisterous with enthusiasm.

The house was large and rambling but it was bursting at the seams. Because there were just not enough bedrooms and the weather was unpredictable it had been decided that the children would "camp" inside. The "big" girls, Sandy, Nyota, Natalka and Shushma, claimed Aunty Mia's work room. It was a wonderful place; one long wall was made of large folding glass doors that opened onto a deck. As the whole house was on a steep hillside, when you were in the workroom you looked out into nothing but sky until you looked down into the forest and the river below.

Because it was her house Sandy said that made her the "boss of the night". Nyota had long ago realised that, although she was the oldest female cousin, Sandy was an immovable object and it was impossible to argue with her. It was usually best to agree and then influence subtly as needed. Besides Sandy and Aunty Mia had made all preparations so it was probably fair.

It was already 10.00 pm when the girls crept into Aunt Mia's work room. Everyone had been on a walk to the falls in the morning followed by a picnic on the banks of the river until the rain started. Then there had been the preparations for the barbeque with the whole family.

Nyota had loved hanging around in the kitchen helping her mother with her sisters and sisters-in–law as they prepared the meal. As she stood at the kitchen bench peeling boiled eggs she had realised how strange it was to see her mother transformed into a little sister. She had a disorienting sense of time warping and a fluttering vision of the future where she would be one of the women chopping salad as her own little girl peeled eggs and watched her future.

After the meal there were scary movies and finally the cousins, and several of the uncles, played a thrilling game of hide and seek with torches all through and under the house which perched on long legs on the side of the hill. The male cousins, who outnumbered the girls by more than two to one, were now entrenched in the in the main living room, and the big girls were in Aunt Mia's work room.

Nyota had been there many times before. Tonight the room was transformed; the machines and moveable benches where pushed to the edges of the room and draped with dark cloths, and there were pictures of skeletons and witches on the walls. The electric lights were out and on the benches, and lined up in front of the closed glass doors, small blood-red candles burned on carefully placed saucers. On the main bench a large jack-o-lantern leered at them, the light in his eyes flickering and winking. White faux cobwebs trailed down from the ceiling and Shushma let out a sudden yelp when a cobweb trailed across her arm and a plastic spider fell onto her. This sound broke the tension and the girls huddled around and giggled excitedly.

Sandy and Aunty Mia had arranged a circle of big brightly coloured cushions in the middle of the wide floor and the girls settled down comfortably. Sandy brought over plates of chips, carrot sticks and other nibbles which were placed in the centre of the circle. There was a lot of giggling and jostling as the four girls all wiggled around to become comfortable.

The door opened and Aunty Mia's face looked in, "Are you girls all right?" she asked with a grin.

"Yes thank-you Aunty Mia," they chorused.

"Well you call if you need anything and, remember, in bed straight after midnight."

"Yes Aunty Mia."

The door closed as she slipped away.

A fresh round of jostling and giggling broke out for no reason. The cousins spent some time gossiping and giggling about music and teachers and books and movies and clothes and everything.

Finally Sandy produced a large book and held it up. The cover was dark with gold embossing and read the "The Magic and Mystery of Halloween".

"This is an ancient book," said Sandy in a serious measured tone. Nyota knew that was nonsense. She had been with Sandy when she bought it in the second hand shop, but she let it pass.

Sandy read from it importantly.

_Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, they would see clues to their future life and the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries._

"We are going to learn our futures tonight'" said Sandy, shutting the book with a clap. "I have prepared an ancient verse," continued Sandy self-importantly. Nyota rolled her eyes.

"If we go one by one and gaze into the Mirror of Power our future will be revealed." Sandy gestured to the mirror. It was the large cheval mirror that Aunty Mia used during fittings. Uncle Robert had made it himself to Auntie's specifications. It was mounted on wheels which was necessary because it was much wider than usual and quite heavy. The dark wooden frame was carved with dozens of stylised animals. As a child Nyota had spent hours just looking at the carvings and tracing the little animal figures with her fingers. There always seemed to be a new one hiding in the carving for her to discover; a fox's face peeking out from behind the rhinoceros, or a bird hiding in the elephant's ear. She had always thought the mirror was special and, if any mirror had magic, it would probably be this one.

Sandy and Aunty Mia had draped sequin-spangled netting around the mirror which stood with its back toward the seated girls, so all it reflected was the dark cloudy night sky through the long glass doors. Sandy explained that each of the cousins would go and stand in front of the mirror, recite the chant and see what the mirror showed.

Sandy snuffed out all the candles in front of the glass doors which left just enough flickering light to see by.

"It is well known that the spirits avoid fire and shun the light," she pronounced solemnly. "The candles were keeping the spirits out but now we invite them in." The others did not really believe her but unconsciously moved closer together.

"Who will gaze on their future first?" asked the self-appointed high priestess of the work room.

After some arguing it was decided that the girls would go in age order, youngest first, meaning Nyota would be last.

Natalka, the youngest, went first. She scurried over to the stand in front of the mirror and solemnly, if a little nervously, intoned:

"Mirror, mirror in front of me

Show the truth so I can see

What my future life will be

And who is going to marry me."

Nyota frowned. The rhyme offended her sensibilities. It was all wrong, it had no weight or character. She was sure such that such an important question should not be made with such flimsy, trite words.

Natalka stared at the mirror a long time, until her eyes were watering and she was going cross-eyed. Then she squeaked like she had been stuck with a pin and hurried back to the others bursting with excitement.

"I saw a boy with brown eyes and curly hair and there were tall trees".

Natalka was so pleased with herself that Nyota did not say it sounded a bit like Natalka saw herself through her blurred and distorted vision that was a product of desperately wanting to show the older girls and watering, crossed eyes.

She also knew the curtains in the room had a pattern of trees on them. She glanced up. Yes, it was possible that the edge of the curtain was visible in the "magic mirror". Nonetheless she kept her peace and joined in the speculating and teasing and Natalka glowed with importance.

Shushma was next and walked placidly up to the mirror. Sandy had risen and gone to the back of the room and Natalka was staring intently at Shushma. Out of the corner of her eye Nyota saw Sandy flip a switch. When she turned to look at the mirror Shushma was very still and her bottom lip was quivering; she seemed to be trying not to cry. Nyota stood up. She could see on the window behind Shushma a crude drawing of a skull glowed softly. Nyota glanced up. There was a UV light hidden in the cobwebs above the mirror and pointed at the window. All Sushma could see was an eerie green skull reflecting alongside her image in the mirror. The image disappeared and Shushma returned to the pillows and started to cry in earnest. Nyota and Sandy had to work hard to keep her quiet. The last thing they needed was Aunty Mia coming in to see what was wrong.

"I'm going to die," Shushma sobbed.

"No not necessarily," said Nyota reasonably, shooting a dark look at Sandy, "The book just said it means you would die before marriage. Maybe you are never going to marry and still live to be 200."

Shushma seemed to think about this; then she says, "But I want to get married." Nyota almost rolled her eyes.

"Well," she said, "Maybe you have a successful career and are an independent woman instead". Nyota would have been just fine with the skull, she would settle for a career and no babies any day, and she supposed that was why Sandy chose Shushma as her victim.

"Hey," said Natalka melodramatically, "perhaps you'll be one of those sexy women who love them and leave them. Then you could be rich from taking their money and have all the babies you want!" She clutched her heart and fell over backwards onto the pillows.

They all looked at tubby, loving, pint-sized Shushma with her braces and freckles, then at each other and started to giggle.

When they settled down Sandy walked up to the mirror looked at it a long tense minute and then, really obviously, pretended to be surprised. Nyota hoped that Sandy was not planning on a career on the stage.

Sandy came back the pillows and said smugly, "Matt Larkin." This brought gasps from the others. Matt was the hottest young actor in one of the current soaps favoured by teenage girls and, as far as Nyota knew, did not even know Sandy existed. Sandy played it for all it was worth, elaborating what sort of wedding she would have and that the happy couple would live in the large white house she had also seen in the mirror. She generously said they could all be bridesmaids.

Then it was Nyota's turn.

Nyota knew, just knew, this was all foolishness, but she felt a real clutch of nervousness as she walked around and stood in front of the mirror. She had looked in this mirror dozens of times playing dress-ups or trying on clothes Aunty Mia had made, but this time was different. The others were quiet. The candles flickered and licked soft yellow-orange light around the room. Nyota looked at the reflected image of a gawky teenager with her hair caught in a pony tail and a smattering of spots on her face. She seemed to be all long legs and knees like a foal and her arms seemed too long for her slim, compact body. Just then the old-fashioned clock struck the first chime of twelve. The wind outside sprang up and moaned around the house; several of the remaining candles guttered and went out and the cloudy night sky suddenly cleared.

Nyota stood surrounded by reflected stars. She was transfixed. A star amongst the stars. The clock was still chiming softly and she saw an indistinct image, a likeness made of shadow and reflections. It slowly became clearer. Nyota felt the little hairs on her arms rise. It could be a demon's face perhaps, sleek black hair and pointed ears, a greenish pale skin. The demon turned his head slowly in her direction as if scanning a room. He was definitely a man, not a boy, had a long face with high cheekbones and eyebrows that angled up sharply. But it was his eyes that held her. They were deep and lonely as space, full of starlight and searching; searching as if looking just for her.

As the clock struck twelve his eyes looked straight ahead at her although she did not think he saw her. She knew then, that impossible as it seemed, in her Aunty Mia's cheval mirror she was looking into the unseeing eyes of the man she would love, a man who was obviously not a human and dwelt in the stars.

The last chime of midnight faded and the wind gusted suddenly, one of the glass doors flew open and all the candles died so the only wildly flickering light was the leering jack-o'-lantern. The cousins squealed in half terror and half excitement and scrambled for the light switch. When the light snapped on Nyota was standing dazzled in Aunty Mia's workroom, with the machines draped in cloths and the benches covered in burned out candles.

Aunty Mia bustled in. "Come on girls, quiet down, bed now." In short order they were all tucked up in their sleeping bags with the lights out except for two candles burning by the door because Shushma was still afraid of the dark.

Sandy's voice came in a whisper. "Did you see anything Nyota?"

Nyota did not answer.

A rolled up sock hit the back of her head, "Nyota, what did you see?" demanded Sandy.

"Just the stars," said Nyota, "and myself."

They seemed disappointed, although whether it was because she had not seen anything or because she would not make the effort to continue the game, she was unsure.

"Oh well, I suppose that means you will become a settler or join Star Fleet and never marry," Natalka said, yawning.

"No, there wasn't a skull," said Shushma, "Anyway I'm going to be the feminine fatal." She giggled.

"Femme fatale" corrected Nyota.

"You can't be one if you can't say it right," said Sandy. Nyota had an idea that Sandy was very wrong about that.

"You can visit me and my husband in my forest when you visit Earth," said Natalka dreamily.

The breathing of the others grew soft and regular and Nyota lay awake and thought about the face she had seen. She was young but not a fool. She knew the mind and imagination could play tricks. But she was also an African woman-child and suspected that the world was more than it seemed on the surface and at midnight of All Hallow's Eve maybe, just maybe, things could happen. She felt a strange certainly that she would one day meet the man with the searching starlit eyes. She thought she would never forget that face. 

But she did, for many years. In the morning the whole scene faded in the way dreams do and all she really remembered was the conviction that going to the stars was her destiny and that conviction never wavered. 

Inevitably she joined Starfleet. It was equally inevitable that her talent for languages led naturally to training to be a communications specialist which, in turn, led to her being seated in the third row of a Introduction to Xenolinguistic lecture in her first year.

She was seated next to a cadet she had seen around in other lectures although she could not remember his name.

"What do you think about your chances?" he said.

Nyota frowned at him, "Sorry? What chances."

"The rumour is Commander Spock is a total hard arse and fails 50% of his class every year." The cadet sighed.

"That does not make any sense."

"Does to him, I suppose. He doesn't norm the marks; there is just a cut-off and if you don't reach it you're out. One year 65% failed. He is sooo hard-line. He never accepts any excuse for late work. And he marks sooooo hard. My brother bombed on his course a couple of years ago. You should hear what he said about him. I bet even if Earth blew up Commander Hard Arse would expect my essay to be submitted on time."

Nyota was about to point out that if the cadet didn't want to fail he could do the work and on time, also that the planets didn't just blow up, and finally, if Earth blew up it would spare neither campus nor commander, therefore the issue was moot. She decided it just was not worth the effort. Nyota was beginning to get the impression that she would not be friends with this cadet any time soon.

Just then the lecture theatre hushed as Commander Spock entered the hall. He mounted the steps to the podium and slowly scanned the room full of cadets.

Nyota frowned; she felt she recognised his face although she had never seen him before. He turned slowly in her direction scanning the room and where his eyes fell the cadets became quiet as if his gaze sucked the noise out of the air. His face was long with high cheekbones, his eyebrows that angled up sharply and his ears were delicately pointed. He was a Vulcan. Nyota sat up straighter, immediately interested.

But it was his eyes that caught her attention and held her breathless. They were eyes as deep and lonely as space, full of starlight and searching. As his gaze washed over her and she remembered a childhood game and a vision or a dream about a man she would love, a man who was not a human and dwelt in the stars.

"Mirror, mirror in front of me

Show the truth so I can see

What my future life will be

And who is going to marry me."

"What?" said the cadet next to her.

"Nothing," said Nyota, "It's just a child's rhyme."

Commander Spock's head snapped up in her direction and their eyes met. He frowned slightly and appeared momentarily confused before saying abruptly, "Quiet please." He turned to the front and started his lecture.

"Uh oh," whisperer the cadet. "Now you're in for it. They say once he takes a dislike to you your fate is sealed."

Nyota experienced a feeling of time rippling and warping and as finally settling back into a shape that was both unchanged and profoundly different.

She whispered back, "I think, when it comes to Commander Spock, my fate was sealed a long time ago."

The cadet frowned, uncomprehending.

Nyota smiled.

**The End. **

Au: I'd love to hear your comments!


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